Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2025/iii/paper-310/2/b/solution

Since and ,
Using and yields
Cosmological recombination occurs far below because the baryon-to-photon ratio is only about . There are roughly a billion photons per baryon, so the high-energy tail of the blackbody distribution continues to photoionize hydrogen until the exponential Boltzmann factor overcomes this enormous entropy factor.

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